Collinsville’s Bartsch named alternate to USA Volleyball team for Olympics

Former Collinsville High and University of Illinois All-American Michelle Bartsch has been named an alternate for the USA Volleyball team that will compete at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro next month.

Bartsch, a 6-foot-3 outside hitter, is one of seven alternates chosen to train with the team up until the time it leaves for South American to compete at the Olympics Aug. 6-20.

When she got the e-mail earlier this week notifying her of the final cuts for the Olympic team, Bartsch came up at No. 14. That left her just two spots away from making the trip to Rio.

“I still think that’s really special,” said Bartsch, a volleyball and basketball standout at Collinsville who has been playing professional volleyball in Germany the past three years. “We were on the plane ride home (from the Grand Prix Tournament) and as soon as I got off the plane I got the e-mail on the Rio roster.”

Bartsch, 26, said she was also the fourth outside hitter on the depth chart and coach Karch Kiraly decided to take only three of them, opting instead for an extra setter.

“Lots of things change so you never really know,” Bartsch said. “They can still change the roster because of injuries or sickness up until the first day of competition in Rio. If something happens I would have to fly in; the chances are pretty small, but at least there’s a chance.

“The Olympics is the only time that anyone pays attention to the national team, so it’s a really cool thing. It’s what everyone dreams of going to and what every little girl dreams of.”

Bartsch has extensive national and international level experience and recently earned a silver medal with the U.S. Women’s National Team at the World Grand Prix. The U.S. team lost to Brazil in the gold-medal match on Sunday.

In a final-round match against China, Bartsch started the second and third sets and had nine kills on 20 swings with one block and one ace.

Bartsch was a two-time All-American at Illinois in 2010 and 2011, finishing her career ranked seventh in school history with 1,644 kills and 10th with 1,035 digs. She helped lead the Illini to the national championship match in 2011 and was named to the All-NCAA Tournament squad.

Bartsch also was part of four straight NCAA Sweet 16 teams at Illinois and later played professionally in Puerto Rico and Germany. She leaves to join a pro team in Italy in September.

Bartsch played with Team USA at the Pan-American Games and Pan-Am Cup last summer, but the recent match time against China at the Grand Prix was her only real game experience outside of the Olympic training facility in Anaheim, Calif.

Bartsch said Kiraly kept a weekly depth chart based on scrimmages and other evaluations and she moved up frmo seventh on the outside hitter earlier this year to fourth.

“Karch is pretty open about everything and any time you need clarity of where you’re at the on the depth chart, he’s pretty good about letting you know,” she said, though everyone wanted to fast-forward to seeing the final Olympic roster as soon as possible. “You still want to know right away, so it was hard to wait all summer. I had good performances throughout and I think I improved over the summer.”

Bartsch enjoyed her experience and hasn’t given up on her Olympic dream.

“It’s been a pretty short process because I joined the club two years ago and many of those girls have been on the team at least four years,” Bartsch said.

During a brief stint away from playing, Bartsch helped coach the 2013 national championship men’s volleyball team at University of California-Irvine (UC-Irvine).

The USA Volleyball team picked up a silver medal at the 2012 Olympics in London.

There were two Illinois players on the 12-member USA Volleyball squad headed to the Olympics: outside hitter Kelsey Robinson from Bartlett (Wheaton St. Francis High, University of Nebraska) and middle hitter Kelly Murphy from Wilmington (Joliet Catholic High, University of Florida).

This story was originally published July 13, 2016 at 11:55 AM with the headline "Collinsville’s Bartsch named alternate to USA Volleyball team for Olympics."